Wall Street report: Friday close

AN early bounce fizzled as investors found things to worry about, including new figures showing that America's giant economy remains mired in recession. Major markets closed mixed, but still managed to post their strongest monthly advance since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 117 points on Thursday, rose another 22.14 points or 0.23% to 9,851.56. The Nasdaq Index, up 3.4% in the previous session, slipped 2.69 points to 1,30.57. For the month, the Dow gained 8.6% while the Nasdaq leapt 14%.

Washington revised downward third quarter gross domestic product to 1.1%, the weakest monthly performance for the world's biggest economy since 1991 when the US was in recession. The Chicago purchasing managers index continued its drop, to 41.1 in November down from 46.2 in October, indicating that executives in charge of procurement see no signs of a recovery. A figure below 50 indicates that the economy is still contracting.

'The market continues to shake off bad news and show a remarkable resilience,' said Alan Ackerman of brokers Fahnestock & Co.. 'It almost looks like Harry Potter's magic wand is at work.'

Barry Hyman, chief investment strategist at investment firm Ehrenkrantz King Nussbarum, said the reports did not show any signs of the pick-up many economists had forecast for early next year. 'We are not showing any real signs of economic improvement,' he said. 'The GDP number was revised pretty much in line, minus 1.1 percent, but still that was a pretty decent negative number and pretty much ensures that the fourth quarter of this year is going to look kind of similar.'

The evolving Enron situation, with the company said to be about to file for bankruptcy or liquidation, did not appear to resonate as it had earlier in the week. Even major lenders to what was once the world's biggest energy trader and America's seventh biggest company barely budged. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase fell roughly 1% apiece to $47.90 and $37.72 respectively. Enron shares continued to deteriorate with some analysts tipping they would soon be at zero. The shares, at $90 last year, traded down 10 cents or 28% to 26 cents. Investment firms were mixed after UBS Warburg cut profit forecasts. Goldman Sachs retreated 35 cents or 0.4% to $89 and Lehman slid $1.27 or 1.9% to $66.15. Merrill Lynch gained 60 cents or 1.2% to $50.09.

Retailers were boosted by the forecast from do-it-yourself giant Home Depot that it would double sales by 2005. Home Depot shares leapt $2.64 or 6% to $46.66. Wal-Mart added 50 cents or 0.9% to $55.15.

Novellus, the semiconductor chip equipment maker, tumbled $3.53 or 8.5% to $38.05 after it said orders were coming in lower than expected. Chipmaker Applied Materials dipped $1.71 or 4.1% to $39.74. Many techs were stuck near the unchanged line as if digesting strong gains from Thursday. Cisco Systems stood out with a gain of 55 cents or 2.8% to $20.44.

Kimberly-Clark, which makes Huggies nappies and Kleenex tissue, firmed $2.33 or 4.2% to $58.17 after it said it would close 5 plants and cut 1,400 jobs or 2% of its workforce. Among Dow components, Eastman Kodak gained 77 cents or 2.6% to $30.27, General Electric $1.23 or 3.1% to $38.50 and International Paper strengthened 58 cents or 1.5% to $39.95.